Magic Makes It All Complete, a team by Dragone

Magic Makes It All Complete, a team that uses balance and synergy to win over opponents. Ever since generation V begun, most of my best teams always ended up being drizzle teams, but we'll get to team building later. In this special RMT I decided to incorporate my Ponies and Pokemon into a single post. And for all you bronies, see how many obvious and obscure MLP references you can find. As for everyone else, have a good time while on my thread, post comments, rates, constructive criticism, but please don't troll off topic or post your satanic comments about how ponies are lame. Happy rating everyone!

Team Building​

I started with my old rain stall team from summer, however after M Dragon posted his famous rain stall team in October, and since the teams were so similar in function and role I trashed the team completely.

I'm pretty awful at building teams from scratch, and since I'v been team rating on Smogon for a while now, I decided to choose six Pokes that most teams are weak against. I had no intention of this becoming the final team, since it completely lacked order, synergy, and basic roles. Immediately after I started testing I started replacing. First I completely altered Dragonite's set, from there I used Politoed, since I finally made up my mind that I wanted a rain team. I switched out Terrakion since he was punching a hole in my clouds now, and replaced him with Starmie. Starmie offered me a much needed Rapid Spin support, and additional rain abusing benefits. My original teammates of Rotom-W and Ferrothorn stayed mostly the same, and the team was built around them (One more reason why I added drizzle).

Testing started to get better at this point, so I decided what theme I wanted. Since now I had a start at balanced rain, I begun to tweak the sets. Dragonite's set got switched to the rain tank set, and I slapped HP(Grass) on Starmie instead of Grass Knot. Most of the teams I had made in the past had Latias on them, but I wanted something that would better reap the benefits of rain.

Tornadurs was fast and powerful, and great in rain. STAB Hurrican hit everything hard and so did Focus blast. However, Tornadrus didn't offer much diversity to my team, since he was like Dragonite but more fragile. Tornadurs was also not very good at combating sand teams, so I replaced him with Jirachi, who would be able to support my team better.

I spent the next few weeks tweaking and pioneering a Cosmic Power set, but after much testing and guidance from others on Smogon, I changed the set to a Reflect abuser that would be able to take strong physical hits, but still able to pass benefits to the rest of my team. I also made other minor changes in move sets and EV distribution, and thats how I made the team the way it is now.

Everypony knows that drizzle is needed for every rain team. Fluttershy brings life giving rain to the other ponies on her team that so desperately need it. She must be kept alive at all costs when fighting other weather inducers, and she loves to revenge kill with powerful moves like Surf and Ice Beam. She is far from dragonshy, since her Ice Beam can out-speed OHKO almost all non-boosted dragon types. Hypnosis is great for putting Pokes to sleep at the beginning of the match, that way she can always pull her weight. She doesn't like to use Focus Blast since it has accuracy almost as horrid as Hypnosis, so she uses Hidden power (Grass) instead, that way she can revenge kill opposing water and ground types.

Fluttershy begins part 1 of my typical starting strategy, where I put a Poke to sleep, then switch to Applejack or Rainbow Dash to either set rocks, or to begin sweeping. Her excellent speed allows her to check many threats that have stat boosted offenses, some of these being Scizor, Lucario, Infernape, Volcarona, Landorus, Conkeldurr, Magnezone, and many others. Keep in mind that if Fluttershy does sweep, she usually does it late game after her teammates and Stealth Rock have dealt some nice damage. If I do send out Fluttershy, it is usually only for a short time, since gorilla warfare is one of her favorite tactics.

She offers my team two of the most important supports anypony can give. Rain is by far the greatest, since without it Twilight Sparkle and Applejack would have even more problems with fire types. Sleep is the second support she offers. Although it is unreliable, she has the speed to pull it off. Also since many foes switch when Fluttershy is sent in, it is easy to get the Hypnosis on the switch. The best thing about Hypnosis is that it usually means that Fluttershy will be able to pull her weight, especially in the situations when I will be using Pinkie Pie far more than Fluttershy. So my advice to the foes of Fluttershy is, don't let her stare you down.

Applejack is one of the three ponies that made it to the final team all the way from the start, and for good reason. Her main role is to set Stealth Rocks, which helps this team offensively and defensively. Her EVs provide her with equal defensive stats, for all around great resistances. Protect allows her to predict choice users' moves, that way the appropriate switch can be made. Protect also allows her excellent recovery when coupled with Leftovers and Leech Seed. Power Whip is for great attacking strength and STAB, and also allows her to break some types of substitutes.

She completes part 2 of my standard starting strategy. She can come in on a sleeping foe and lay rocks and Leech Seed. Then a switch to Rainbow Dash so she can restore her Hp with Leech Seed instead, and batter away with powerful moves at the same time. Since the sleep mechanics are changed this generation, the foe will probably not want to switch since that will start the sleep countdown all over again. Applejack also acts as a makeshift spin blocker for her team, since foes won't like touching Iron Barbs and loosing a chuck of their Hp every time they have to spin. Most spinners in OU are also water types, so Applejack can OHKO or 2HKO them with Power Whip.

Applejack hates fire and fighting types, and even with rain most fire type attacks will be a 2HKO. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie are usually the best switch-ins, since they both take fire types quite well, and they prevent Applejack from being set up fodder. The real reason Applejack is here, is because in many late game situations she can be extremely hard to KO. Most Pokes can't get a status condition on her, since if I see one coming by using Protect I can throw in Rarity to just recover it off with Natural Cure at a later point. Applejack is all together, one of the hardest working members of this team.

One of my favorite Ponies to use on this team. Rainbow Dash is one of my main sweepers, able to put large dents in most defensive pokes (Hurricane is a 3HKO even on max special defense Ferrothorn). Brick Break helps me win the weather war against Tyranitar, since most Tyranitar sets are out-sped and KOed by Brick Break. Brick Break is also good against the occasional HO team. Blissey and Chansey like to come in and try to wall Dragonite, since they figure it is a pure special tank, so Brick Break gives me an edge against those foes as well. Modest is run because I don't want to sacrifice defense, plus Brick Break is seldom used. And yes, Modest Rainbow Dash is pretty ironic.

She and Pinkie Pie have excellent type synergy together, since Pinkie Pie's lone weakness is grass which Rainbow Dash can take no problem. Pinkie Pie returns the favor by taking ice attacks for her. Between these two ponies, opponents often find it difficult to take Rainbow down. Did I mention the nice Parylasis and Confusion support that Thunder + Hurricane provides. Rarity also switches in to take status conditions from time to time, since Rainbow Dash hates Poison and Paralysis.

Sun teams can be a real menace to her, since Hurricane and Thunder have 50% accuracy in the sun. Usually when I fight a sun team I try to Hypnosis Ninetails on the first turn with Fluttershy, and if it misses, and I am hit with Energy Ball I usually take heavy damage. Pinkie Pie can do pretty heavy damage with Volt Switch, and with rocks I can usually batter it down. Other than that, Rainbow Dash usually doesn't have much trouble, probably just because she's 20% cooler than the rest of the team.

She's faster than Rainbow Dash, and has fewer weakness than about 95% of the OU meta game. Pinkie Pie isn't just pink and fun, she is a ruthless assassin than will haul you off to Siberia if you let your guard down for a second. Trick allows her to cripple opposing defensive threats, most notably Ferrothorn. Hidden Power (Ice) is for finishing Pokes like Salamence and Dragonite. Volt Switch does heavy damage to a variety of foes, and allows her to avoid danger. Hydro Pump is powerful STAB, OHKOing most Pokes that don't have a resistance to it. Pinkie Pie prefers max special attack, since max speed doesn't out-speed much that it doesn't already.

Pinkie Pie hates Protect. Protect flavored cake, Protect balloons, Pinkie hates it all. Protect users can scout her choice option and then send in a threat that can easily take the attack or even be immune to it. When she is Protect scouted, she usually switches with another of her teammates that will have an advantage over the foe sent in. The only other thing on Pinkie's hate list is Ferrothorn, since she usually has to sacrifice herself to Trick it. But getting killed by an overgrown weed for the good of the team is what friendship is about.

Twilight Sparkle uses here magic to help support the rest of the team. She is by far the most unique and strange of all her teammates. Her defense stat reaches a whopping 638 after Reflect, giving her time to pass wishes and paralyze powerful physical attackers without taking much damage. She has spent more time researching and testing her set than any other member of the team, and that work yielded her an extremely unexpected set and role. Her quite fair 100 base speed and the 40 speed EVs allow her to U-Turn away from a variety of opponents. This prevents her from being trapped by Magnet Pull, and allows her to deal some damage on the switch when passing Reflect and Wishes.

Her most notable weaknesses are to strong special attackers, especially to water types who's STABs in rain deal extensive damage. She is also weak to stat boosting fire types, although these are usually predictable and Pinkie Pie can come out and OHKO them with Hydro Pump. Twilight Sparkle also is on the team to counter dragon types. Most Dragon Dancing foes could sweep this team if it wasn't for her, and since she can U-Turn away from Magnezone, mag + drag teams pose little threat. The greatest advantage Twilight Sparkle has is the element of surprise. When I U-Turn out, or set up Reflect right in their face, or take little damage from STAB opposing Earthquakes, my opponent becomes completely bewildered. Twilight Sparkle is the number one supporter for my team, and her magic makes it all complete.

Rarity, she is here to take status and to Rapid Spin area hazards away, which would render my team useless. Thunder provides bolt-beam coverage, so that Rarity is able to cover a wide variety of foes. Like with Fluttershy, I use Ice Beam to finish off dragon types, and Surf as a reliable STAB. I usually try to keep Rarity alive for as long as possible, or at least until my foe looses their area hazard setter. Most speed boosters can tear right through Rarity, so I keep her away from them. She also functions as a backup sweeper for Flutttershy, just in case she is put to sleep or hit by a Critical. She has considered Thunder, and with additional testing, it took the spot of Hidden Power (Grass).

Conclusion​

Special Thanks too Woodchuck for helping me with Jirachi's set, and to all the people who helped me test this team. Feel free to tweak, rate, use, and comment on my team. I hope you enjoyed your time on my thread.
~Dragone

Moderator

With an offensive team, I think Spikes are in order, so I recommend changing Ferrothorn's set to Spikes/Power Whip/ Stealth Rock/Gyro Ball. Gyro Ball is incredibly useful on Ferrothorn as it has a nice Attack stat and only 40 Speed with 0 IVs, so you get 150 power on anything with 200 Speed or more (like everything).

Starmie has an inefficient spread in my opinion, as nowadays Leftovers just isn't good on Starmie anymore. However, a Life Orb set with Recover gives you more power and recovery at the cost of Hidden Power Grass, which you already have on Politoed.

I think Iron Head is kind of necessary on Jirachi over Reflect, as a 60% flinch rate is just better than four turns of a little less damage. It makes your Wishes better because a paralyzed opponent only has a 30% chance to hit you as opposed to a 75% chance without Iron Head. It's basically reliable recovery. Without Iron Head, you run the risk of getting killed while you Wish. If Reflect is that important, try it, but you have no offensive presence against the things you want to beat...

If you want Brick Break on Dragonite, try Quiet. No sense in wasting any of the Dragon's Attack. Rotom needs to be Timid, as the power difference isn't that noticeable.

I recommend testing out a Specs Politoed so you can hit Gastrodon harder, but it's not a big deal. Good rain team!

Go for a BoltBeam combo on Starmie to cause more pain. With Life Orb, that combo can hit most threats for severe neutral damage, and you have Ferrothorn to deal with a certain sea slug. (Gastrodon, I'm talking about you)

With an offensive team, I think Spikes are in order, so I recommend changing Ferrothorn's set to Spikes/Power Whip/ Stealth Rock/Gyro Ball. Gyro Ball is incredibly useful on Ferrothorn as it has a nice Attack stat and only 40 Speed with 0 IVs, so you get 150 power on anything with 200 Speed or more (like everything).

Starmie has an inefficient spread in my opinion, as nowadays Leftovers just isn't good on Starmie anymore. However, a Life Orb set with Recover gives you more power and recovery at the cost of Hidden Power Grass, which you already have on Politoed.

I think Iron Head is kind of necessary on Jirachi over Reflect, as a 60% flinch rate is just better than four turns of a little less damage. It makes your Wishes better because a paralyzed opponent only has a 30% chance to hit you as opposed to a 75% chance without Iron Head. It's basically reliable recovery. Without Iron Head, you run the risk of getting killed while you Wish. If Reflect is that important, try it, but you have no offensive presence against the things you want to beat...

If you want Brick Break on Dragonite, try Quiet. No sense in wasting any of the Dragon's Attack. Rotom needs to be Timid, as the power difference isn't that noticeable.

I recommend testing out a Specs Politoed so you can hit Gastrodon harder, but it's not a big deal. Good rain team!

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Thanks for the rate, I will seriously consider the new Ferrothron and do extensive testing. Spikes do have a lot to offer this team, but the game is so face paced I never really found room for it. I think Spikes would be good though, I could set them when my foe was sleeping on the switch. I actually used to have Recover on Starmie, but I never found the moment where I could use it, maybe I just need to test it some more. As for Jirachi, I used to run Iron Head over U-Turn, but since then, set started drifting to serve support, so I didn't really need para-flinch, especially since I switched out most of the time anyway. I don't use Jirachi to really wall things anymore, just to set Reflect and Wish, then U-Turn to something that can handle that threat, having a nice defense boost, and max Hp when Wish takes effect. Also with Iron Head instead of Reflect, Jirachi kinda sits there, offering not as much to the rest of the team. The speed drop on Dragonite while running Quite just isn't worth the extra power on Brick Break, because I use it so rarely. I'v also explained why I don't run Timid on Rotom-W, and I will test Specs on Politoed.

One quick suggestion though is to try Spec Politoed. Since you already have a Revenge Killer in Rotom, Politoed could be used as a powerful wallbreaker. Specs Rain Hydro Pump is really awesome and messes everything up. Also I strongly suggest Perish Song over Hypnosis. Hypnosis is just going to let you down, especially if you don't like running Focus Blast cause of accuracy problems. Anyway solid team, good luck and I hope you try the small changes.

Choice Scarf revenge killing set is always nice, and I see the point on Focus Blast, although I still prefer it, there is just one niche about this one. a Pokemon with a 90 base Sp Atk stat, even when maxed, has trouble running something like HP Grass.
The only thing you're really getting ahead of is Swampert, Gastrodon and friends.
While I think something like Focus Blast would still be better, I would consider using Psychic, or Focus Blast, while Focus Blast has crappy accuracy, it's still probably the best choice on Politoed. Although, I think you should take the Bulky approach on Politoed. Being a weather lead, you know Poli needs to stay alive ( Keep the rain going in weather wars ) and with no HP invest, Physical moves are going to OHKO without a problem or anything stopping them. Scarf toed with Modest still isn't that fast.
I would at least test out a 252 Hp, 252 Sp Def, 4 Def, Toed, with Scald, Ice Beam, Focus Blast, and Attract. Makes a great disrupter, Scald burns and screws physical enemies, Focus Blast can afford to miss with Attract support ( Yes, I said attract. Everyone says it's lame because of the practical 50/50 chance to actually be able to use it, but just try it ). Now that that little rant is over.. Yeah, just try that out a few times.

Tested all suggestions. Specs Politoed made my rating drop like a rock, and as soon as I went back to Scarf I rose back to my original ranking. The only suggestion that passed testing was Thunder on Starmie, I am also still doing testing on the alternate Ferrothorn set. Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

Have you tried Life Orb Starmie with Hydro Pump it really wrecks teams. And how about using Hydro Pump on Politoad, the extra power really helps.

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Yes, I believe I have seen another rain team before that ran Hydro Pump over Surf on Starmie because it OHKOs Scizor. Although Scizor isn't really a major threat on this team anyway so you might be better to keep the accurate Surf since your team does not suffer it.

Hi dragone,
First off an annoying nitpick: take 12 speed EVs out of politoed, which still allows you to outspeed tornadus. Unless you are concerned about outrunning serperior and scolipede. I guess they go in HP? Defense? I don't know

Actually, that is about it. I don't know if dual scrafers is a great idea, but, whatever drowns their boat (see what I did there). Jirachi is weird, I will probably t set it soon.

Rain teams usually have problems being walled by Ferrothorn / Gastrodon & Jirachi, and this team is no exception. Most Rain teams are also vulnerable in getting swept by Virizion or Celebi, but you have Dragonite and Jirachi to mitigate this problem. Toxicroak, CM Jirachi, Sub DD Gyarados, and Tornadus are all big threats; Sub DD Gyarados and Tornadus are covered well by Jirachi, whereas Toxicroak and CM Jirachi are problematic to this team.

To solve your first problem of being walled by Gastrodon + Jirachi combo, I suggest NP Celebi over Ferrothorn. Jirachi and Ferrothorn provides redundant coverage to Rock and Dragon Types, whereas Celebi can take Grass, Electric, and Water hits like Ferrothorn.

Earth Power lets Celebi deal with Jirachi. SpA EVs lets it have a good chance at 3-shotting Scizor with EP+EP+ NP-boosted EP, as well as scoring a 3HKO on specially-defensive Ferrothorn with +4 Earth Power (which is easier to reach than you think). Baton Pass lets Celebi escape from Scizor or Ttar's Pursuit. The lack of Recover may stink, but Rain allowing leftover recovery, combined with Giga Drain and Jirachi's Wish usually sustains Celebi. Nasty Plot + Baton Pass to Starmie, Politoed, or Dragonite is a nice additional luxury.

As for Toxicroak, I suggest adding Jellicent over Rotom-W. It not only perfectly counters Toxicroak, but it also prevents CB Terrakion from spamming Close Combat and win. It is also a decent answer to Landorus and Mienshao. Jellicent & Celebi together provides better coverage to Fighting Types than what you initially had. Celebi, for instance, is faster than Lucario and OHKOs with Earth Power after a special-defense drop.

I also have a few suggestions on your Scarf Politoed: run Timid Nature with enough Spe EVs to reach 260 Spe. This way Politoed can also check Dragonite after a Dragon Dance. Hypno ScarfToed is good; I approve xP

I'd also consider Iron Head on Jirachi over Reflect. Iron Head in particular helps your team against Tyranitar, who can shrug off even Water moves after summoning sandstorm. As DetroitLolcat has mentioned, it is also a clutch move that helps Jirachi regain its health, allowing it to better accomplish its primary job of Wish-passing. Paraflinch is the only way Jirachi can beat CM Reuniclus, as well. I would consider it. Even without Reflect, Jirachi does not simply sit there, as you put it, since it has U-turn to maintain the offensive pressure of your team.

Rain teams usually have problems being walled by Ferrothorn / Gastrodon & Jirachi, and this team is no exception. Most Rain teams are also vulnerable in getting swept by Virizion or Celebi, but you have Dragonite and Jirachi to mitigate this problem. Toxicroak, CM Jirachi, Sub DD Gyarados, and Tornadus are all big threats; Sub DD Gyarados and Tornadus are covered well by Jirachi, whereas Toxicroak and CM Jirachi are problematic to this team.

To solve your first problem of being walled by Gastrodon + Jirachi combo, I suggest NP Celebi over Ferrothorn. Jirachi and Ferrothorn provides redundant coverage to Rock and Dragon Types, whereas Celebi can take Grass, Electric, and Water hits like Ferrothorn.

Earth Power lets Celebi deal with Jirachi. SpA EVs lets it have a good chance at 3-shotting Scizor with EP+EP+ NP-boosted EP, as well as scoring a 3HKO on specially-defensive Ferrothorn with +4 Earth Power (which is easier to reach than you think). Baton Pass lets Celebi escape from Scizor or Ttar's Pursuit. The lack of Recover may stink, but Rain allowing leftover recovery, combined with Giga Drain and Jirachi's Wish usually sustains Celebi. Nasty Plot + Baton Pass to Starmie, Politoed, or Dragonite is a nice additional luxury.

As for Toxicroak, I suggest adding Jellicent over Rotom-W. It not only perfectly counters Toxicroak, but it also prevents CB Terrakion from spamming Close Combat and win. It is also a decent answer to Landorus and Mienshao. Jellicent & Celebi together provides better coverage to
Fighting Types than what you initially had. Celebi, for instance, is faster than Lucario and OHKOs with Earth Power after a special-defense drop.

I also have a few suggestions on your Scarf Politoed: run Timid Nature with enough Spe EVs to reach 260 Spe. This way Politoed can also check Dragonite after a Dragon Dance. Hypno ScarfToed is good; I approve xP

I'd also consider Iron Head on Jirachi over Reflect. Iron Head in particular helps your team against Tyranitar, who can shrug off
even Water moves after summoning sandstorm. As DetroitLolcat has mentioned, it is also a clutch move that helps Jirachi regain its health, allowing it to better accomplish its primary job of Wish-passing. Paraflinch is the only way Jirachi can beat CM Reuniclus, as well. I would consider it. Even without Reflect, Jirachi does not simply sit there, as you put it, since it has U-turn to maintain the offensive pressure of your team.